GI Bill Questions - Ortho Residency

[DVA1990]

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Hello! I am about to finish my 3-year HPSP as a general dentist and considering applying to ortho next cycle. I have finally paid off all my loans from the first year of dental school (before HPSP). I have always wanted to specialize in ortho but I am having a lot of anxiety about taking out more loans now. Most of the programs I have looking at are a minimum of $100K a year (so at least another $300K). I also know there are some school that stipend based (UConn, Montefiore, Einstein but I recognize those are super competitive.

I am lucky in that I have access to the Post 9/11 GI Bill....but I want wondering if I can connect with anyone who has went through this process?

Several of my friends who just graduated from ortho are having a super hard time in the job market right now.....so this along with my high cost of attendance (even after $25K from the GI Bill) seems very scary.

I would appreciate any advice anyone has.

Thank you!

 

[Hockey_Ortho]

I have been hearing the same thing from recent ortho grads as well. Having a hard time finding a job and being able to keep up with the insane amount of debt they are in.

 

[JacquesVallee]

Yeah, I've also heard the same thing about Ortho. Recent grads I know seem like they didn't realize how bad the market currently is. You'll have a better time if you specialize in something like endo or peds. @New_Vegas is a recent Ortho grad who talks about the current state of Ortho a lot. Hopefully he can chime in.

 

[2TH MVR]

I agree that the ortho economic environment has changed, and not for the better. But. It is all relative. 30 plus years ago .... ortho was king. Sky was the limit as they say. And again .... multiple private office locations were the norm back then.

I graduated in 1993. It took me 12-18 months to find a situation (Associateship ---> Partnership ----> Sole Owner) that worked for me. And during that time ... I was poor as f***. Eventually I found that opportunity. 12-18 MONTHS. It's not like there were jobs everywhere. I had to find it. Also realize there were very FEW Corp offices back then.

NOW. Plenty of Corps, Pedo and General practices looking to hire orthodontists. I never had that option 32 years ago.

For the new grads. It takes TIME. That perfect situation isn't going to show up immediately. If you are in a saturated, urban area .... you will need to have multiple jobs. That's reality.

And the jobs are available. For example: 3 other Corps have tried to hire me away from my current job. I know that all the orthodontists that previously worked for the Corp where I am ..... have successfully found other employment. There was this opportunity in Tucson for years. Part of the Corp I work for. Busy locations which means big bonuses. They could not find an orthodontist to work those locations. I would have done it except that I live in Phoenix. They finally talked an older ortho out of retirement to help out there.

So. The jobs are out there. They will require travelling to multiple locations. And ..... there are plenty of malocclusions out there to treat. PLENTY.